Professor Potter
by catgirl234
Summary: 5 years after the war, Harry Potter was hit with an unknown curse that left him reliant on a cane and forced his early retirement from the aurors. He hadn't even left the hospital before Minerva McGonagle approached him to offer him the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. He had agreed almost immediately. Inter house Unity. Mention of Drarry.


AN: Thanks everyone that let me know the formatting got screwed up when I posted this. Hopefully FFN will let you all enjoy it this time.

* * *

Almost 5 years to the day after the end of the war, Harry Potter was hit with an unknown curse that left him reliant on a cane and forced his early retirement from the aurors. He hadn't even left the hospital before Minerva McGonagle approached him to offer him the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. He had agreed almost immediately.

By the time the summer was half over, he was glad he had. It gave him something to look forward to. Harry still wasn't comfortable venturing out on his own as his leg would randomly give out and refuse to bear weight. Everyone in his family, his husband especially, had become adept at catching him before he hit the ground. He didn't want to give the press something to talk about. So he spent most of his days in his house while everyone was at work. Andromeda frequently brought Teddy to spend the day with him, but there were only so many times he could repeat the same conversations with the 5 year old.

Now, he stood leaning against his desk at the front of his classroom waiting for his first class ever to arrive: third year Gryffindors and Slytherins. Minerva had warned him that animosity was still high between the houses, despite the teachers best efforts to stop it, and not to be afraid to summon her if he needed her to help mediate. He had had an idea of one way he might be able to help ease tensions, but he also knew it was going to go over about as well as a fire underwater. He flicked his wand, and gold writing appeared at the top of each desk.

It was one way they had solved interpersonal problems in the auror corps. You got stuck in a room with the other person (a moderator was always present, if not visible) until you either talked it out, or fought until you were too exhausted to do anything other than talk. Then you were partnered together until you figured out how to trust each other again.

He opened the door to the students as soon as the bell rang. All of the slytherin students were huddled in a group to his left, and the gryffindors had done the same on the right. For the most part, they ignored each other, although he caught a few glares being thrown back and forth.

"Good morning students. Head inside and find the desk with your name on it. You cannot change your seat, so don't try." He stood aside to let the students traipse passed with various looks of disbelief. To his knowledge, he was the first professor at Hogwarts to have assigned seating.

The looks of disbelief quickly turned to anger and indignation as they found that they were all paired with a student from the opposite house. Everyone was turning in their seats to see how close they were to their friends from their own house. He slammed the door and made his way back towards the front of the room, leaning more heavily on his cane than he really needed too. By the time he reached his desk again, silence had fallen and everyone was looking at him with varying degrees of distrust.

"Right. Today will be a mostly introductory lecture. We'll get into some of the practical stuff next class." Harry paused for a moment. "I'm Professor Potter, and I'm here to teach you all defense. My approach to defense is likely going to be very different than what you've had in the past. I will teach you not only magical defense, but a muggle system of martial arts known as karate."

There were several groans at the mention of muggle martial arts, but one student in the back looked up with a small smile.

"The reason for this is because many wizards assume their opponent is defenseless if they can take their wand from them. My goal is to have you to never be defenseless. Next, our focus for this year will offensive spells and their counters, and if we have time at the end of the year, we will introduce dueling. However, I want to make sure you all have at least a basic understanding of what I think you should have learned your first two years. Therefore, next Monday, there will be a review quiz over the basics of defense and defense against creatures. Any questions?"

Several hands went up immediately.

"Johnson." Harry nodded at an angry gryffindor boy at the front of the room.

"Why do I have to sit next to this snake?" He snarled. "Why do none of us get to sit next to our friends? We all hate each other."

The slytherin girl next to him (Fawcett) shot him a glare, but Harry could see her shoulders droop just slightly.

"Ah, yes. Thank you for reminding me," Harry said with a smile. He hadn't actually forgotten at all, but wanted to see how long it would take for someone to bring it up. "Your desk mate will be your partner for lessons. They will change periodically, but do not expect for that to happen any earlier than once a month."

There were several outraged shouts. Harry waved them down with a glare.

"Headmistress McGonagle has informed me that despite what happened five years ago, and despite her and other professors attempts to facilitate inter-house unity, there is still a rather deep divide. By forcing you to work together as a team, I will teach you how to trust someone that you ordinarily wouldn't think to work with."

For the most part, while everyone was uneasy, they kept quiet. Except for Johnson.

"How can you expect me to trust a dirty snake?" He yelled. "They'll stab you in the back the second you turn around. I bet you always got to work with whoever you wanted."

"That is enough Mr. Johnson. Please stay after class. Ms. Fawcett, if you would be so kind as to join us." He looked at her. She glared at her partner again, and nodded once. "To address your last point, my assigned partner when I was in the aurors was a phenomenal little witch who went by the name of Morgana. She saved my life more than once and there is absolutely no one I would trust to watch my back more than her when push comes to shove. She was also as slytherin as they come."

Harry watched the team for a minute. Satisfied that the outburst had been quelled for the moment, he turned back to the rest of the class.

"For the remainder of the class period, I want you to get to know your partner. It can be all superficial information for all I care, or you can just talk about one of your subjects. The point is to find something you can actually have a conversation about. Please do not antagonize your partner. Any team that cannot have a civil conversation in class gets to have a moderated one with me later this week."

With that, Harry released them. He mostly tried to stay by his desk, but made an occasional lap around the outside of the room. For the most part, everyone was able to find something to talk about. He knew they would; he had spent a lot of time trying to figure who from the other house each student was most likely to get along with. Johnson and Fawcett however, just sat next to each other in silence.

When the bell rang, Harry spoke up.

"Thursday's class will be out on the quidditch pitch. We will be starting with martial arts, so please wear the gym uniform that was on your supply list this year."

The students filed out. Once only the two he had requested remained, he gestured them to follow him into his office. He sat down and watched the two of them for a minute. Eric Johnson was leaning back with his arms crossed glaring at Harry. His gaze never wavered. Sarah Fawcett on the other hand, was outwardly relaxed. She let her gaze wander around his office, taking stock of the various nick-nacks and photos he had strewn throughout. He noticed the tension in her shoulders that betrayed her nervousness however.

"Right, since you were unable to complete the exercise in class this morning, I will be directing your discussion. I warn you now. Some of my questions will not be easy to answer, and you may like what each other has to say even less. However, I do require honesty in your answers. You cannot trust your partner or expect them to trust you if you lie. Understood?"

Johnson just glared at Harry in silence while Fawcett nodded once.

"Good. Then let's start back with your outburst in class." Harry met Johnson's angry gaze. "What do you have against Ms. Fawcett?"

"She's a slytherin," he piped back immediately. Harry thought he saw Sarah flinch.

"Ms. Fawcett, your turn," Harry said turning to look at her. "Why does that make you upset?"

She sat quietly for several moments, seeming to think over her answer. Eventually, she decided to just let it out.

"Because he doesn't even know me! We have never once even had a conversation, and he thinks that just because my house colors are green and silver that's reason enough to hate me. I am not defined by my house. Everyone always thinks that being the house of ambition and cunning means we all want to be the next dark lord when we grow up. But it doesn't. Maybe it just means that my ambition is to learn seven languages and visit every country in the world. Maybe it means that on weekends, my sister and I race to see who can finish a pint of ice cream the fastest.

"Ambition just means setting a goal for yourself, and cunning is knowing how to get there. Just because Lord Moldyshorts wanted to enslave the non-magical population doesn't mean we all do."

At the end of her rant, she slumped back in her chair and crossed her arms. She kept her gazed fixed down at her lap. Harry looked over at Johnson. He still looked angry, but he was also actually looking at his partner instead. He appeared to be thinking about something, so Harry just sat back and let him think.

"You eat whole pints of ice cream by yourself?" Johnson asked in a strangled voice. Harry thought he sounded impressed but was trying to hide it. Fawcett just nodded. "Who usually wins?"

Fawcett looked over at him with a smirk.

"I do, of course."

"What's your record?"

"A minute thirty-seven." Fawcett's smirk had turned into a wide grin at Johnson's dumbfounded expression, all anger forgotten. Before he could form his next thought, they heard a voice yelling from the classroom.

"Harry, you better not be overworking yourself on day one!" The voice was getting closer. "I'm not carrying your scrawny arse back home if your leg gives out on you."

The door to his office slammed open causing both students to jump. Harry smiled at the blond standing in his doorway fondly. For his part, if Draco Malfoy was surprised to have been caught yelling by students he didn't show it. He continued scolding Harry as he strode into the room.

"I'm not climbing all these bloody stairs to bring you your potions every time you need them. Come to think of it, you shouldn't either with your leg. You'd be much better off down near the dungeons where I could keep an eye on you." He placed a steaming goblet of green potion on the desk in front of Harry, before placing a light kiss to his hair and then leaving again.

"Drink it," he commanded.

Harry's responding "Yes dear" was lost as the door slammed closed again. Johnson's eyes looked as if they were about to bug out of his head while Fawcett was stifling giggles behind her hand.

"What," Johnson sputtered. "What just happened?"

"It would seem that lunch is halfway over," Harry said. "And my rather overdramatic husband took it upon himself to remind me of that."

Harry clapped his hands once.

"Right, off you go. Come back Wednesday after dinner and we can continue with your discussion."

Fawcett stood and started gathering her things. Johnson continued to stare at Harry.

"You married Professor Malfoy?"

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but Fawcett cut him off.

"Obviously. There's pictures of the two of them all over their offices. Why did you think he cancelled potions classes last spring at the same time Professor Potter got injured?"

Johnson just shrugged.

"Come on, Johnson. We still need food before next lessons." 

Finally he stood and followed her out of the office. As the door closed behind them, Harry heard Johnson again.

"I still don't like you Fawcett."

Fawcett just laughed.


End file.
